Jack Ma Loses $1.4 Billion as Alibaba Stock Drops
 Jack Ma’s fortune dropped $1.4 billion yesterday, the most among the world’s 400 richest people, as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. shares posted a record slump after the company missed revenue estimates. The decline allowed property tycoon Wang Jianlin to recapture the title of China’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, placing him $400 million ahead of Ma, who’s worth $26.3 billion. Ma, the 50-year-old chairman of the world’s largest collection of e-commerce websites, has seen his net worth fall $4.1 billion since Alibaba closed at a record Nov. 10. “I think Jack Ma’s fortune has a lot of room to grow,” said Wang Weidong, an analyst at IResearch, a Shanghai-based Internet consulting firm. “He still has a lot of assets whose value haven’t been fully unlocked.” Alibaba revenue was 26.2 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) in the third quarter, compared with the 27.6 billion-yuan average of 25 analyst estimates. Ads on mobile phones generate less money than those on desktop computers because of their smaller screens, and transactions on the Tmall platform grew at a slower pace, the Hangzhou-based company said yeseterday. Alibaba shares fell 8.8 percent to $89.81 at the close in New York yesterday, the lowest since Oct. 20, a month after its trading debut. Wang’s flagship property company and cinema operator sold shares in two public offerings in the past month. Wanda Cinema Line Co. has more than doubled since it started trading Jan. 22 on the Shenzhen exchange. |
